Racism Has Increased Over Past Decade for Most São Paulo Residents

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The majority of the population of São Paulo (70 percent) feels that racial prejudice has remained the same or has increased over the past ten years, according to research released on Wednesday, November 13th, by the Nossa São Paulo Institute. In the opinion of 33 percent of respondents, racism in the city has increased in the last decade, while for 37 percent it remained at the same level.

Among “negros”, an official government grouping that includes both blacks and mulattos, 73 percent claim that discrimination remained the same or increased, a perception that prevails among 66 percent of whites.

Among the places where there is perceived different treatment between whites and blacks, shopping malls and other commercial establishments stand out, where discrimination is observed by 69 percent of the population. Racism is still present in public areas, in the opinion of 64 percent of respondents, in schools and colleges (62 percent), at work (60 percent), and in public transport (57 percent).

One in seven people (69 percent) says that black people have fewer opportunities in the labor market than white people.

Supermarkets and schools

As an example of racism in everyday life, the deputy municipal secretary of Human Rights and Citizenship, Elisa Lucas Rodrigues, recalled the denunciations of torture of blacks and mulattos in supermarkets that had ample repercussion this year. “The issue of supermarkets, the issue of the correction room, which, although they deny it, does exist,” she emphasized.

In September, videos circulating on social media indicated the practice of torture in at least two supermarkets in São Paulo capital. In one case, an adolescent was whipped naked and gagged by private security guards in the establishment. In another, a man, charged with theft, was beaten with a stick and attacked with a stun gun. Seven people were eventually arrested during the investigations of the two cases.

Elisa also pointed out the complaints of discrimination reported to the secretariat about cases that occurred in schools. “It’s very bad when we get a denunciation – and we have, unfortunately, received several of them from schools which discriminate.” According to the secretariat, most of the time occurrences involve students, including children, who suffer prejudice from their peers in private schools.

To circumvent the issue, the Secretary said the portfolio has been trying to raise awareness among teachers and the administrative staff of educational establishments. “This is what we are looking for with schools, with private schools, sometimes public schools, for teachers coordinators and principals to consider this issue,” she added.

Segregation

The research also showed an unequal occupation of the city. According to the study, 35 percent of blacks live in the southern region of São Paulo, while 29 percent of whites live in more genteel parts of the city. Three percent of blacks and six percent of whites live in the center. In more remote neighborhoods, such as Jardim Ângela, the population of blacks and mulattos reaches 60 percent of the total, while in well-off areas, such as Moema, only 5.8 percent are black.

For the president of Geledés – Black Women’s Institute, Maria Sylvia Aparecida de Oliveira, the study helped show a reality that the black population already perceives in practice. “These are relatively new data, but we already knew this, from experience. I am a resident of the suburbs of São Paulo, and we realize that there is this apartheid [segregation] in relation to the black population in relation to the places where they live,” said Maria Sylvia, when comparing inequality in the São Paulo capital to the regime of racist segregation that prevailed in South Africa until the 1990s.

Source: Agência Brasil